Actress of the Year

She's come out of nowhere – the Davidson Community Players' production of Barefoot in the Park of 2009, to be precise – and risen to the pinnacle in less than a year and a half. Maret Decker Seitz proved to be every bit as astonishing in a musical, playing five romantic leads in Five Course Love, as she had been in the Neil Simon comedy. Then she compounded her dizzying versatility with three more comedy gems in another madcap Actor's Theatre hit, The 39 Steps. With all the chameleonic wig and costume changes Seitz has gone through onstage, I'm still not sure I'd recognize her if she bumped into me. Exuberance and artistry are what make her indelible.